DEAD MONARCHY - REVIEW
Sandbox RPGs such as Battle Brothers and Mount & Blade: Warband are few and far between. At least, good ones are. These games often task players with managing a company of soldiers and completing quests/contracts/missions for cold hard cash, most of which require players to go some place and kill some people.
Dead Monarchy is no different; it puts players in charge of a company of soldiers in a low-fantasy world, completing contracts in order to build up wealth and improve their company's skills. In this sense, Dead Monarchy is similar to Battle Brothers, though its tactical turn-based combat takes place in a 3D environment.
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CONCLUSION
My thoughts on Dead Monarchy are relatively conflicted. On one hand, Dead Monarchy is a tactical experience packed with high levels of customization and strategy, all made by a single dedicated indie developer. But on the other hand, Dead Monarchy is extremely janky, packed with small annoyances and severely lacking many quality of life features.
Although at its low price point I can still recommend Dead Monarchy to hardcore fans of tactical sandbox RPGs, players should go into the experience aware of the game's shortcomings. In reality, Dead Monarchy should still be in Early Access, as it does not come across as a finished game. It's simply lacking in too many areas, despite the fact that the one thing it isn't lacking is content.
However, if players treat this like an Early Access title and manage to grind past the game's slow-start, Dead Monarchy has some satisfying systems under its hood that reward players for their patience. Furthermore, the developer behind Dead Monarchy is still actively working on the game, and updates seem to be fairly regular. With another year or so of updates, Dead Monarchy could really be something special, but until then, I recommend it only to those who can look past the game's low quality of life.
For those that do decide to take a chance on Dead Monarchy, I recommend turning on 'Quick Interactions', 'Faster Combat', and 'Faster Movement' in the game's options menu. Trust me, it results in a faster-paced experience that makes some of the game's more tedious moments less frustrating.
